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Thailand v New Zealand: All Whites confident after China draw

New Zealand are upbeat about their form, despite carrying an eight-match winless streak into their friendly with Thailand on Tuesday.

Published

16 November 2014

The All Whites fought back against China for a 1-1 draw on Friday, Chris Wood scoring for the visitors at Nanchang in the 87th minute.

Conversely, the Chinese dealt Thailand a 3-0 defeat just four days earlier, in what could prove to be a strong formline for the clash at His Majesty the King's 80th Birthday Anniversary 5th December 2007 Stadium in Nakhon Ratchasima.

"This is a big step forward. Overall I am very proud of them. They were really excellent tonight," New Zealand coach Anthony Hudson said after their draw with China.

"What they gave in terms of intensity, effort and all the things we lacked against Uzbekistan, we got the opposite tonight. I thought we were absolutely outstanding as a team.

"One thing we wanted to address was us being competitive. Against Uzbekistan we were very much off the pace and played a soft game. Tonight we were the opposite. We came to a very difficult place and tried to play as much as possible in the opposition half.

"We were aggressive, we were positive. In terms of commitment of the players they were excellent especially for such a young squad."

Goalscorer Wood said he felt their attack against China was the most productive it ever has been in his 39 international caps.

"I don't think I've been in an [All Whites] side that has created four clear-cut chances in a game," Wood said.

"That's something we can take positives from the game. We created those chances and that's a positive thing we are doing.

"We definitely deserved something out of the game with the chances we created so we can take a positive result of coming away from a strong China team with a draw, knowing we could have probably won the game as well."

New Zealand, at number 131 in the world, are ranked 34 spots higher than the Thais, who are winless in six.

Kiatisuk Senamuang's men have lost five of their past six, shipping an average of just under three goals in their joyless run.

The fixture is Thailand's last before they compete in the ASEAN Football Championship, which will see them go up against Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar starting November 23.